Eight is Not Enough
by Quin Firefrorefiddle
Summary: Set after Seven Up. Ranger gets a phone call, and he and Stephanie head to Florida. For once, a story where his daughter gets kidnapped and it isn't to get to him. Followed by CYSUTW.


Eight is Not Enough

Author: Quin

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will, no profit made. Thanks, JE, for giving us these guys to play with! Ranger, Steph, Tank are Janet Evanovich's, the rest and the plot are mine.

This is my first JE fic, but I've been writing J/C fanfic for Star Trek: Voyager for a year or so. Recently stopped, moved on to this fanficdom. Starts right after Seven Up. Here goes!

* * *

Ranger's gun belt hit the floor and suddenly the Cuban-American Batman/bounty hunter/entrepreneur was sitting on my bed. Generations of ancestors turned over in their graves, shouting, "He isn't Italian! Stephanie, what are you doing!" at me, and I could almost hear them. If it wasn't for the Italian comment, I could swear it was just me inside my head. Not being very good at my job, and even worse at personal relationships, self doubt at this moment was not going to be avoided.

But all ancestors flew right out of my head as Ranger leaned closer to me, his face slowly approaching mine. His eyes were incredibly dark, and burning with something I couldn't quite name, he was barely controlling himself. His lips stopped a half inch from mine. He whispered, "Ask me to stop, and I will."

My mouth moved, no sound came out. Which was probably a good idea, since I had no idea what I was going to say.

He pulled back a bit, and looked me in the eye. He took a breath to say something and my heart rate broke all laws of physics and doubled speed.

And his cell phone rang.

He fought a minor war within himself, then stood and grabbed the phone.

"Talk." If he had used that tone of voice on me, I wouldn't have dared to speak for a week.

"No," he looked at me, then turned and faced the wall, "but I trust her." He couldn't possibly know how much that statement meant to me. Assuming he meant me.

"WHAT!" It nearly wasn't a question at all, more of a bark. The person on the other end talked for a couple minutes, and Ranger looked like he was regaining control of himself, at least his neck muscles relaxed.

"I think so. Stephanie Plum. Give me five hours." The force with which he snapped the phone shut didn't fit with his image of self control. As he turned to face me, he bent to pick up his gun belt. His face was unreadable.

"My daughter has been kidnapped. Someone has stolen Rosie." His voice flat.

I stared at him in outright shock for several seconds before I heard myself ask how I could help.

"Amy, my ex, is working on a plan. She has asked that when I go down there, I bring a woman whom I trust but isn't a part of my regular team with me. Will you come to Florida?"

I nodded automatically, and he said I should pack a bag for a week's trip, and to travel light. Over his shoulder, as he left, he told me he would be back in an hour. I heard his cell phone open, and the last thing I heard before he was out the front door was "Tank, I'm leaving town for awhile."

Less than an hour later we were standing next to his Bronco. He took my bag from me, but he paused before he put it in the trunk. He looked like he wanted to say something, but couldn't figure out how to, or even if he should.

Finally he spoke, and what he said startled me.

"Stephanie, why are you doing this?"

"You sound like my mother." Okay, so it wasn't the friendliest thing I could have said, but he caught me off guard. And that WAS exactly what my mother would say. Besides, he almost grinned at me, and that was an improvement over the Mr. Freeze impersonation he had been doing ever since he got that phone call.

But ultimately he wasn't having any of it. "Stephanie, why are you coming to Florida?"

Was RANGER having self-esteem problems? This whole situation was insane, certainly, but Ranger doubting, well, something, probably me, I don't know, that he could (probably) control, was even weirder. So I looked him straight in the eye and told him the truth. Or most of it. There were bits I wasn't up to admitting to yet.

"Ranger, you have always helped me when I was in trouble. This is my way of helping you back."

"Wrong. The distraction jobs you do for me are how you pay me back for helping you. Why do this?"

"Well, Ranger, if you really want to get nit-picky, the distraction jobs are how I pay you back for teaching me how to be a bounty hunter. I helped YOU when I spied on Hannibal Ramos. All the distraction jobs have been helping the team. Going to Florida is me helping you, not student assisting teacher and his cohorts."

He really looked like he wasn't buying it, and it was beginning to annoy me. So I heaved a sigh and tried again. "I, Stephanie Plum, am helping a friend, Ranger Manoso, get his daughter back. This has nothing to do with Vinnie or RangeMan or Professor freaking Higgins. You're a good guy who deserves his daughter back. And if you can't accept it, or for that matter try to pay me for it, I WILL use every trick you've ever taught me to make your life very miserable for a long, long time. You might have dozens of former Special Forces guys at your back, but I have Grandma Mazur and the entire Burg. Deal with it."

It took every ounce of self control I had not to add a "So there," on the end of that, and he'll never know how close I came to sticking my tongue out at him.

He gave a slight nod and tossed my bag into the Bronco. Then we headed for Newark Airport.

As luck would have it, there was a 2:45 flight from Trenton to Jacksonville that morning, which happened about as rarely as Grandma Mazur said something conventional. Since the plane was nearly full, I figured the flight had been planned before Ranger called the airport.

We got onboard and took off. Since we weren't landing until about 5:30, I fully intended to do some serious snoozing during the flight, but I had some questions first, and wanted to ask them before Ranger went into his zone.

"Ranger? I'd like to ask a few questions before we get to Jacksonville."

"Go ahead." I hope his answers are longer than that to the rest of my questions.

"I'd like to know a little bit about your ex before I meet her." Wow, that was abrupt.

"We met at a party. She was in college, I was in the Army, training for a mission. It was in Iowa. She'll be the first to tell you she isn't what most people call beautiful, and pretty only on a good day. But her eyes...," his voice trailed off, "Even behind those coke bottle glasses of hers, they were gorgeous. But best of all was her sense of humor, her whole personality. She could scare the crap out of ANYBODY one moment, and the next moment be cuddling a kitten like it was crystal." He glanced at me. "She wasn't out of control, though. She has better self control than I do."

I raised my eyebrows and grinned, but when he didn't, I gulped. This was some woman, and a tiny little part of me was starting to call her competition. I wasn't so sure I wanted to think about what she might be competition for.

"We dated for a year, and then I proposed. The engagement lasted six months. We got married in a tiny town in northeastern Iowa, because neither of us had family there, so both families had to travel, and we didn't offend anybody. Her family came out from Chicago, mine from Denver, and we filled all the hotels in the county, it felt like." He was grinning. "Italian families may be big, babe, but Cuban families are bigger, and German-Swedish families are even bigger than that."

Amy was German and Swedish!

"After the wedding, we moved to Jacksonville. I managed to get a training assignment there, so I didn't have to be away all the time. My bosses weren't happy about that. Amy transferred to the city's college, and got a part time job. She was pregnant within two months. When she was five or six months along, she decided to take a semester off to have the baby. She took a job at the law firm across the street to help ends meet. I didn't really want her to, but she wanted to help. But the pay wasn't much and the hours were long, if not too stressful. She got bored quickly with the job, and I was getting a lot of pressure to do my old kind of missions. It got to me, I started to drink more and more, and I started smoking. A couple Army buddies introduced me to marijuana, and I got into that, too."

He sat, staring into space, for several seconds. I was about to say something when he started talking again.

"Then Rosie was born. Rose Anna Manoso, after Amy's mother and mine. I swore off cigarettes the day she was born. Of course, I was still smoking one here and there, but that was done with by the time she was sleeping through the night. But since I wasn't smoking cigarettes anymore, I smoked pot more often. Amy figured it out pretty quick. Before I had always been careful to make sure it had completely worn off before I came home. I wasn't so careful anymore, and Amy's pretty observant. She threw me into rehab, and I lost the pot habit after the second try at it. But I still couldn't control the drinking. Finally something happened, and she threw me out. She called one of my brothers, who had moved to Florida, and he took me in. After all, my drinking had gotten me kicked out of the Army by then, so I had no place to go."

I was dying to ask what had happened that made Amy throw him out, but the look in his eyes told me not to.

"The divorce woke me up. I got control of myself and my drinking, and I moved to Trenton. No one knew me there, knew what mistakes I had made. I started out as a bounty hunter, then started RangeMan. The rest is history." And he went into his zone.

Wow.

Chapter 2

Since Ranger was in his zone, I went ahead and napped. I had a very odd dream that involved Ranger as Batman (who else?), me as Poison Ivy, and a few very strange armadillos.

Which is why I screamed when I opened my eyes and Ranger's face was three inches away from mine.

The plane went totally silent. Ranger had thrown himself backwards when I screamed, and he winced when his head bounced off the window. I looked around, and did the "Who, me?" look at the people who were staring at me. That is, everybody. Then I looked back at Ranger.

"Sorry about that. You freaked me out. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, babe. I take it that was an interesting dream you were having."

"What? How did you know I was dreaming?"

"You were mumbling in your sleep, something about Batman and armadillos. Anything you want to talk about?"

"Err, nothing, really, it didn't even have a plot. Why did you wake me up?"

"We're about to land. Want some gum?"

I took a piece and looked past him out the window. All I could see was sky. In order to see the ground I would have to bend over Ranger, and I didn't think that would be smart. For a variety of reasons.

An hour later we were in front of Amy's house. The garage door was open, and a slightly battered Toyota Corolla sat inside. A new red Ford pickup was at the curb, so Ranger had pulled the rental car, a black Bronco (!) into the driveway. We walked up to the front door of what appeared to be a perfectly normal house with all the blinds drawn. Ranger knocked.

His ex opened the door. She was a couple inches taller than Ranger, and wore a t- shirt, jeans, a cheap pair of boots, and of course, the glasses Ranger had mentioned. They were sliding off the end of her nose a bit, and the effect of seeing the top half of her eyes without the glasses, and the bottom half through the glasses, was very weird, since the glasses made her eyes look a lot smaller. Her face seemed naturally solemn, a little too round for her height, and her eyes matched her hair, dark brown with coppery highlights. It was pulled back into a waist length braid, and her hair looked as straight as mine was curly.

She nodded to Ranger. "Hello, Ric. Right on time. As usual."

"Amy, this is my friend Stephanie Plum. Steph, Amy Manoso."

She let us inside and I found myself standing in a large room, longer side to side than across. The left third was a living room area, coat closet, window seat, a couple closed doors, love seat, two chairs, table and lamp, and an entertainment center with the usual technological array. The middle third had a dining room table with four chairs around it, and a bookcase that reached up to the ceiling and was wider than the Buick. It was completely full. The right third was a kitchen, and it seemed perfectly normal. Everything was clean enough to suit my mother, except for the fact that the dining room table was totally covered in stacks of thick file folders. I wanted to snoop in the hallway that was next to the table, but that could wait.

Suddenly one of the closed doors next to the window seat, the one on the far wall, opened, and a man walked out of what appeared to be a bathroom. He looked a little startled to see Ranger and I, and glanced at his watch.

"Already 6:30? I didn't realize it was so late. They'll be here any minute." I glanced at Ranger. We were here, who else did he expect? He walked up to us.

"Ric, good to see you again."

Ranger almost smiled. "Hello, Chris. This is my friend Stephanie Plum. Steph, Christian Slater."

No, he wasn't that Christian Slater. He was just barely taller than Amy, built like a soccer player, and from what I could see of his arms he was in excellent shape. His face was friendly, dominated by a square jaw. He wore an outfit similar to Amy's. His eyes were an odd shade of light brown, almost golden, and his hair looked like it was normally light brown but had been sun bleached to almost blonde.

Then a car horn beeped outside, and he called, "Finally!" over his shoulder as he jogged out the front door. Amy suggested we bring our luggage in, and I quickly agreed so I could have a few words with Ranger.

As we were hauling our bags out of the Bronco, (okay, as RANGER was hauling our bags out of the Bronco), I asked him about Chris.

"Chris is Amy's boyfriend. I'm surprised they're not engaged yet, really. They met at a summer camp during high school, I think. They were both assistant counselors, and they stayed friends. Chris moved down here about five years ago. He's a good guy."

He straightened up and caught the look on my face. "Let me guess, Amy surprised you. She'll like that, she enjoys surprising people."

Understatement of the year. Her eyes had been twinkling like a lit up Christmas tree when she saw how surprised I was at her appearance when she opened the front door.

As Ranger closed the trunk and I picked up my bag, I glanced over at Chris. He was talking to the driver of the van that was idling behind the pickup. There were a couple big boxes on the ground next to him. The van drove away, and Chris picked up the boxes and took them inside. By the time Ranger and I got to the door, he was closing the coat closet, so I guessed that was where the boxes were.

Amy had cleared four places at the table for plates, and was setting the table as we walked in. She looked at Ranger.

"One bedroom or two?"

"Two."

"Take Rosie's room. Stephanie, you can have the guest bedroom, the door on your right in the hallway."

There were three doors in the hallway; one on the left, one on the right, and one at the end. Ranger went into the one on the left as I went into my room. It was decorated in various shades of green, with a bed, dresser, wardrobe, desk and a small attached bath which was also green. The desk, dresser and wardrobe were made out of cherry wood. It was a nice room, but plain, and the bed covers had obviously been through the washer many times.

I walked back into the hallway just as Ranger was coming out of his room, which looked a lot like mine, only yellow, and it had a bunch of knickknacks scattered around. The room at the end of the hall had to be Amy's, then, and since the door was open, I could see it was decorated in blue.

Ranger and I walked back into the main room, where we found Chris helping Amy set out the breakfast she had prepared, bagels and fruit. Amy poured out two mugs of hot water from a teakettle on the stove I hadn't noticed before, and handed one to Ranger.

"Sorry, Ric, but the only tea I have is spearmint."

"That would be fine, thanks."

Chris poured out two mugs of coffee, and grinned as he handed one to me. "I can't understand how they can make it through the day without coffee."

"Well, I don't know about Amy, but I'm not sure Ranger's human." Chris's grin was contagious.

"I don't think he fits the 'little green man' description too well. Maybe there are pods in the basement."

"Always possible. But there's got to be something wrong with him. I'm not even sure this health food thing of his is healthy. People need sugar and fat, right?"

"Of course! But I wouldn't worry about Ric too much. This is just a phase. Three years ago he was as big a junk food junkie as the rest of us humans!"

"You're kidding!" That was impossible!

Ranger cut in. "Chris, don't encourage her, please! Amy, can you explain this plan of yours to us?"

"Sure Ric. I'll tell you guys the basics while we eat, then we can all take a four hour nap, since we were all up half the night." That sounded good to me. I dug into my food as she went on.

"Rosie was at a sleepover when she was grabbed at about 1:00 AM last night. She and her friends were playing tag in the front yard, and a car pulled up, and man jumped out, grabbed her, and drove off. It all happened so fast and the kids were so scared that we haven't been able to get a very good description of the guy or the car. From what I hear, this has nothing to do with you, Ric, but something one of the members of my congregation told me about the Ginelli family during a counseling session."

Burg girl to the core that I was, I spoke up. "Congregation?"

"Sure, I'm the pastor at the Lutheran church down the street."

Chapter 3

Amy obviously noted my incredulity but except for a slight grin she went on like our exchange had never happened.

"The Ginelli family, of course, has a certain code of honor that they feel must be upheld. Granted, it doesn't always agree with the rest of the world, but it's not like we don't know anybody else like that." She glanced at Ranger, grinning. He nodded slightly, his eyes glinting with humor, and Amy continued.

"Their code of honor, however, does not usually allow for kidnapping children. They fully believe in punishing those that commit crimes against them, but involving innocents isn't their style. Which means one of two, possibly three, things. A- this has nothing to do with the Ginelli family. I doubt this because it's the only thing Chris and I have been able to come up with. Yes, they could have paid off everybody, that is the people who kidnapped Rosie could have paid off everybody, to give Chris and I a false lead, but that would have been very expensive. Option B- This information is a lot more important to the Ginellis than their code of honor. Possible. Under normal circumstances unlikely, but normal is a word that has never really been applicable to me anyway. Option C- A member of the Ginelli family has kidnapped Rosie and is risking getting excommunicated Mafioso style in order to make sure I don't tell anybody what I know."

Chris broke in. "An unauthorized kidnapping has gotten people in that family killed before, and it quite honestly wouldn't surprise me if it happened again. Half of the people under 45 working for the Ginellis are idiots, and the only reason half of the people over 45 aren't idiots is because usually idiots in that line of work don't live that long. It really is hard to get good help these days."

We were all about done eating by now. Chris started to clear the table, but when I got up to help, he waved me back down. "I've heard this all before, Stephanie, you haven't. Sit." So I sat. Amy took a long swallow of tea before going on.

"Personally, I betting on door number three. I also have some names to check out if that is the one we're going with. But one thing, people down here know you, Ric, but they don't know you, Stephanie. If you're up to it, I'd like you to play Ric's empty headed ditzy girlfriend that he couldn't convince to stay home. If we have any luck at all, people just might not guard their tongues around you. At least let's hope so."

"Why Amy, I can't understand what it is that people would say to little old me. After all, I just came down here to make sure none of these Florida girls gets the idea Ranger here is up for grabs. Can't have that, now, he's mine and I'm keeping him, that's for sure." All said with a very thick and very fake southern accent, and lots of eyelash fluttering.

Amy gave a couple complex snorts. Chris just leaned back against the kitchen counter and laughed. But I had finally gotten a full 200-watt smile out of Ranger, and that was the best of all.

Finally, Amy managed to keep a straight face and spoke up, with a laugh on the edge of her voice. "Very good, brilliant! Maybe this will be fun, after all," she calmed down, and looked thoughtful for a second, "But one thing, down here he's known as Ric to his friends and Ranger to his coworkers. The ditz you're playing won't have worked with him, so you'd better call him Ric. Will you slip up?" I could see she was an excellent mother. Not even I could lie, would dare to lie, to this face when she meant business.

"I might, during an unguarded moment. But how can I guard against that?"

"I don't know. The only thing I can come up with is to try not to use his name at all. Ever had a conversation with a person whose name you can't remember?"

I smiled as I nodded. I was usually pretty good at getting through those awkward moments without a hitch. "And if I do have to, it will be because I have no other choice, and then I'll be thinking about it."

"Right. Now we come to the difficult bit. The Ginellis are going to assume that I've told you three what I know, they'll have to, they're paranoid like that. Of course in their case, being paranoid doesn't mean that no one's out to get you. It won't keep you any safer not knowing, so I will tell you if you want. It is better to be informed than not, but it's your choice." She waved at Chris to come back to the table. "Does anyone not want to hear it?"

We all just sat there, staring at her.

"All right. It isn't necessary for me to tell you who told me this. Obviously, since this person is a member of my congregation, they are working for the Ginellis, but not a family member but that's all you need to know. I promised this person I wouldn't tell anybody who they were, and I'm keeping that promise. Luckily, they said I could tell others what they told me, or I'd be breaking a vow as solemn as the seal of the confessional in telling you this."

Amy picked up a couple of folders and handed one to me, indicating I should share with Ranger. She opened hers and nudged it towards Chris, and then she started talking again.

"The Ginellis have only one major rival in Jacksonville, the Romano family. There has been something of an armed truce between the two of them for the past decade or so, but a few months ago something threatened that peace. The Romanos have always been the smaller family in terms of how many people they have working for them. They are more careful than the Ginellis at hiring people; the average IQ of a Romano family employee is considerably higher than a Ginelli worker. It's common knowledge that the Ginellis have gambling riverboats all over Florida. The Romanos would like a piece of that pie for themselves, and according to what I was told, sent in a spy to find out more about the Ginelli's operation about six months ago. About three moths ago, the Ginellis finally figured out there was a spy in their midst, and while most of the family was all for sending the spy back to the Romanos in a large number of small boxes. But then somebody had the bright idea to use the spy as a double agent without their knowledge. The Ginellis started feeding the spy false information, but not being as smart as they think they are, the forgot to give the spy some real information to keep the Romanos thinking they didn't know what was going on. About six weeks ago, the Romanos figured this out. As of last week, there is a contract out on the spy, but practically nobody knows about it. Including the spy. If this gets out, the spy will go underground, and the Romanos having picked one of their brightest to be the spy, will be very difficult to find. So the Ginellis not being very fond of the spy either, just on general principles, don't want the fact that there is a contract on the spy to get out either. One of their employees told me about it because this person has a personal stake in keeping the spy alive."

She looked down at the folder she was sharing with Chris. "The spy's name is Terry Churchward, and his rap sheet is short only because he's very good at covering his tracks. He's done literally everything, and been practically everywhere. Common aliases include Arthur Starr, Greg Land, and Louie Moon."

At the last name, I sat up straight. "Did you just say Louie Moon? Has this guy been in Trenton? Do you have a picture?" I was almost shouting.

Ranger put his hand on my arm. "Calm down, Steph. What is it?"

"A guy named Louie Moon used to work at Stiva's. I've never noticed if he still works there."

"Terry had been out of state for three years or so before he came back and turned spy six months ago. A grand theft auto went wrong and he had to lay low for awhile. He could have spent time in Trenton."

"I can't figure Louie Moon to be a Mafioso who's done everything and been everywhere. He was a few IQ points short of moron- hood when I knew him."

"Letting people underestimate you is almost always to your advantage, and Terry knows that. What's more he's very good at it. It's almost his trademark. But make no mistake, much as he might act the idiot, he's as smart as a whip and has a finger, or at the very least an ear, in every pie for seventy miles around. He could start his own family if not for the fact that he's been working for the Romanos so long that they have more blackmail material against him than there was evidence against Nixon in Watergate."

Chris yawned just then and his mouth opened wide enough that I was worried his jaw might break. Amy grinned, and said she was done, so we might as well take our four-hour nap now. She walked Chris out to his truck, and as soon as she came back in the phone rang. She answered, and turned to me,

"Phone Stephanie." I picked it up. Who would call me here?

"Hello?"

"Good morning, cupcake."

Chapter Four

"Joseph Morelli! How did you get this number?"

"My cousin Sally works at Newark Airport, cupcake. She knew I was on a stakeout earlier tonight, and called me right after I finished to say you had gone to Jacksonville with some Cuban guy. Then she asked if I could get the Cuban guy's phone number for her. I called the Jacksonville police and they gave me, what's her name, Amy's number."

"Why did you call?" A horrible thought rushed through my head. "You didn't give Sally Ranger's number, right? And you did tell her not to tell anybody?"

"No, I didn't, on both counts. Sorry, cupcake but you'll want to call your mother this morning. As to why I called, well, I know something you don't know, and you'll want to hear it."

"What happened, Joe? Did somebody get hurt!" I was seriously worried now, and it added an almost hysterical note to my voice.

"No, no, Steph, calm down. Everybody's fine. But I think you'll leave Ranger's side at his sister's when you hear that Ranger never told you he's a father. He has a daughter, living with his ex wife somewhere. At least they were married, that's better than his sister you're with. So what flight can I expect you on? I'll pick you up at the airport."

I stood there, not saying a word. I couldn't speak.

"Steph, cupcake, are you there? Hello?"

Finally, the laughter came out. This was just too much! When I could talk again, I said, "Joe, Amy is Ranger's ex, not his sister, and he told me about their daughter a long time ago."

Now Joe was the one not saying anything. I calmed down a lot. "Thanks for the warning about my mother. I'll call her later. See you, Joe."

"How much later?" Wow, Joe must really be desperate.

"Why should you care? We broke up, remember? Officially! I don't have to report to you. It's not like you ever told me how long you'd be gone before you left. You didn't even tell me you were leaving!" Okay, so I blew up a bit. Joe isn't the only one with an Italian temper.

"Steph, cupcake, sweetheart, I-"

"I don't want to hear it. I'll see you when I get back. Goodbye."

I slammed the phone down and took a couple deep breaths. I called my mother, and by the time I was off the phone, my eye was twitching. Fighting with Joe was always exhausting, but since I hadn't slept very much lately, I felt drained.

"Stephanie?" Amy approached me. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, just tired. I just talked to my ex, and then my mother."

"I see. Why don't you go and take that nap? I'll wake you up in time for lunch."

I grinned. "That sounds wonderful. See you later."

"Sleep well."

Ranger's door was closed. I went into my room and closed my door. All of the doors in the house opened the same way, into the room, so if a person inside the room opened the door they would have their right hand free. Also, every door I'd seen so far locked, even the bathroom doors, from the inside. I wondered for a moment if all this defensive stuff was Ranger's or Amy's idea.

My head hit the pillow, and the last thing I remembered hearing before I slept was a computer powering up in Amy's room.

"Rise and shine, Steph!"

There was a hand on my shoulder. Someone was trying to wake me up.

"Mmph. Ran- oh, hi Chris."

"Good afternoon. Did you have a good nap?" He was grinning. He had no right to grin. It was too early in the morn- er, afternoon to grin. I growled at him, and rolled over.

"I take it your nap wasn't quite long enough. Would food help?"

My eyes popped open. "Food?"

"Yep, and I guess you're awake now, so see you out there in a minute." He left.

I got up and manhandled my hair into a somewhat manageable ponytail. Then I got dressed and went into the hallway. Amy's door was open, so I peeked since it might be the only chance I got to snoop.

There wasn't really much difference between my room and Amy's. Books were scattered everywhere, on the desk, dresser, nightstand, even the side of the bed that wasn't made. There was a computer on the desk, it looked normal to me but what did I know? It was turned off. I went back into the hallway. I didn't want to get caught, after all. Ranger's door was closed, and anyway, snooping in his room wouldn't be prudent. I went out into the main room.

Amy was at the table, drinking a big glass of fruit juice. Chris sat across from her, a pop can in his hand. There was no food on the table, but sandwich stuff was on the kitchen counter. Ranger was no where to be seen. Amy and Chris hadn't noticed me yet.

"Hi." Well, that was original of me.

"Hey, Stephanie. Have a seat. Would you like a drink? Cranberry juice, ginger ale, root beer?" Amy got up and moved toward the refrigerator door.

"A ginger ale would be fine, thanks. Um, where's Ranger?"

Amy glanced at Chris as she sat down, and handed me my pop. "Well, Stephanie, Ric isn't up yet."

I glanced back and forth between the two of them, confused.

Chris spoke up. "See, Stephanie, we don't know you very well. We trust you because Ric trusts you, but we'd like to talk to you for a while. Get to know you better."

Amy saw I was still confused and jumped in. "Stephanie, if you aren't comfortable with this, we understand. We could wake Ric up and have him here while we talk to you."

I finally got it. "I understand, I wouldn't instantly trust my kid's life to a stranger either, if I had one. Ranger doesn't have to be here."

They both smiled, and relaxed. "Tell us about yourself. Where are you from," Amy asked.

"I was born and raised in the Chambersburg section of Trenton, but everybody calls it the Burg. Mostly Italians live there, but some Hungarians and Germans live there, too. My mother, for instance, I'm half-Italian and half-Hungarian. A lot of the Italians are in the family business, but Dad pulled out early, so I'm not really connected."

"Why did you start working as a bounty hunter?"

"When E. E. Martin merged, I got caught in the lay-off. I had no luck with temp jobs, and so I blackmailed my cousin Vinnie into giving me a job. Originally, I thought I'd be a file clerk, but then I found out how much money bounty hunters can make. I've been at it a couple years now." Maybe telling them about blackmailing Vinnie wasn't the best thing I could do to earn their trust, but they were sure to find out anyway. Besides, they were smiling.

"How long have you known Ric?"

"Since the first day I started bounty hunting. He's my mentor, and still helps out on takedowns sometimes." My mind flew back to what he had asked in exchange for the last takedown, and I blushed. Amy and Chris grinned at each other, and then we all started laughing. Having Ranger's ex wife asking me about him right before we were going to rescue their daughter was absurd. After we all calmed down, I decided I wanted to ask some questions.

"So how long have you two known each other?"

Chris had a small grin on his face as he answered. "We met at a summer camp, to learn how to be camp counselors."

"More like learning how not to be, Chris!"

"What do you mean by that, Amy? I was excellent!"

"Hey, at least I didn't get Daycamp the first week! They must have really not liked you to have done that to you."

"You got Daycamp second week, it's the same thing!"

"Not at all, that wasn't my fault!"

They went back and forth like that for almost ten minutes, teasing each other while answering my questions. They seemed ever more in love than anybody I had ever met. Of course, my sister Valerie and Steve used to hold that honor, and look at them now.

After a while, I became very comfortable with Amy and Chris. It was like we had known each other for years instead of hours. We talked for almost half an hour before Amy remembered to wake up Ranger and have lunch. She went and woke him up and then came back and sat down, saying he'd be out in a minute.

"So, Stephanie, are you and Ric just friends, or does it go farther than that?"

I was a little startled to get a question like that from Ranger's ex, but once I made sure he wasn't in the hallway I said, "Friends, but I'd like to go farther than that."

A voice floated over my shoulder. "Really, babe?"

Chapter 5

I would have jumped three feet, but Ranger's voice was so warm, soft, husky, spine-tingling; okay, let's stop this train of thought right there; that I wasn't really startled, so much as, well, startled. But Ranger had his force-field thing going, so I couldn't seem to move. Apparently the force field didn't affect my blood flow, though, because all of the blood in my body was now turning my face bright pink.

Amy and Chris got up and busied themselves getting lunch ready. Ranger came up behind me, took my hand, led me into my bedroom and closed the door. Then he backed me up into it, and stared straight through me for a couple seconds.

"Really, babe?"

The force field was still up, I couldn't talk. It took all of my willpower just to nod, and control my drooling

"Why didn't you say anything?"

That was enough of a shock to get my mouth working. "Me! Me, say anything? Ranger, we've been flirting for a long time, but never once did you say what you wanted. Never once did you try to steal me away from Joe. No, we flirted, and you showed me 'self defense moves', and that's all there ever was. I don't have ESP like you, Ranger. I don't know what you want."

"You never tried to guess. I thought all you wanted was the flirting. Why didn't you ever try to come after me?"

"Your Batman is better than my Wonder Woman." I wasn't looking at him anymore.

Ranger backed off and sat on the bed. "You scared of me, babe?" His voice was softer than it had ever been.

I relaxed a little, the force field was gone. "Not usually. No so much you as the idea of you."

"What does 'Not usually' mean?"

"Usually you don't scare me. Usually my mother doesn't scare me. Yes sometimes you're scary, but then, so am I. So is my mother. So is everybody."

He thought about that, and nodded. "What did you mean, 'The idea of me'?"

"I'm not really good at personal relationships. So far, I've screwed up all of them. I don't want that to happen again." I looked up. "Not with this."

He stood up and moved towards me. "If you work it right, only one has to not get messed up, babe. Do you want to give it a shot?"

I nodded, the force field was back up. We just stared at each other for a couple seconds.

A sharp knock on the door behind me made me jump right into Ranger's arms.

"Lunch is ready," Chris announced.

Ranger said we'd be out in a minute, and I could hear Chris walk away. I tried to move out of Ranger's arms, but he wouldn't let me. He bent his head, and looked into my eyes.

Then he kissed me. Oh WOW, did he kiss me. All the kisses we had shared had been hot, but this one was bone melting. All of them were gentle, but this was liquid chocolate. They were short. This one wasn't. It really wasn't. This was a kiss that our children would always be to young to hear about.

The kiss finally ended, and if Ranger hadn't been holding me, I would have fallen over. Then he opened the door, and we went out to lunch, since I'd calmed down.

Lunch was quiet. Chris explained what all of us would be doing this afternoon, and after that, we chatted about food. I explained ziti and stuffed cabbage to Amy, and she told me about rice pudding and sauerbraten. I felt like I was in a multicultural club. Then we went our separate ways.

Ranger was off re-establishing communications with some of his old contacts in the area. Chris was talking to a few people he knew that might know something. Which left Any and I to do the questioning that had to be done face to face.

Our first stop was Terry's parent's house, where he lived when he was in Jacksonville. Amy told me about them during the 10-minute drive that it took to get there.

"Terry lives with his parents and his little sister, Janet. She works for the Romanos, and wears several different hats, she helps with money laundering, numbers running, and general cash flow. Terry always took a more active role with the Romanos, and is so well known that the police constantly find new reasons to pull him over whenever he's driving just to check up on him. The only reason it took so long for the Ginellis to figure out who he was is that he grew a beard and mustache, even though he's always hated them, and dyed his hair."

"That's it? That's all it took?"

"Well, he also stared wearing baggy clothing. Going from blonde hair to jet-black is a major change. Imagine if Connie went blonde."

"You know Connie?" Did Amy have ESP too?

"I know of her, Ric's told stories. As for Terry's parents, they worked for the Romanos for years before retiring. Remember, they all know exactly what's going on, but they will act as if they haven't a clue. That's why you're there, they might forget to act in front of you. Any questions?"

I had to think a bit before I came up with one. "Why do they think we're coming? Since Rosie was kidnapped-," I cut myself off. Amy had gasped loudly when I said 'kidnapped'. "Amy, are you all right?"

"Of course I'm not all right! My daughter has been kidnapped!" She pulled over and parked, and stared out the windshield for a few seconds, regaining control. "I guess I'm a better actress than I thought. I never fall apart in front of people, but I didn't know I could actually seem calm under this kind of stress. I've been fighting to not fall apart, but when you said 'kidnapped', it threw me. Sorry, we should keep going."

I murmured something soothing, but inside I was flipping out. Amy's emotional outburst was something akin to Ranger's slamming his cell phone shut after Amy had called him that morning, and it startled me just as much. After a few minutes, once we were back on the road, Amy spoke again.

"The question you asked is a valid one. The answer is because every other month I make a scheduled visit to the home of each family of my congregation. This visit has been scheduled since last month, and I'm apparently known for not breaking appointments. Also, it's not like I have anything else to do, like look for my daughter, since the police are on the job." She smiled grimly. "You're along because Ric, kindhearted soul that he is, has decided we need to get to know each other. Not surprisingly, I'm not too thrilled about the idea. How will you play it?"

"Me? I'm a ditz who can't understand why a nice lady like you wouldn't want to be friends with a nice girl like me."

Amy nodded. "I think that's about it. Good thing, too. We're here."

Amy said later that the visit went just about as she had expected it to. Terry's dad wasn't there, but his mother and Janet were horribly polite to us, expressing sympathy to Amy and civility towards me. The one odd thing was that, while Janet apologized for her father's absence, she didn't say where he was, or what he was doing. Amy and I asked a few questions, hers subtle and mine ditzily blunt, but hers were dodged and mine ignored. We left after less than an hour, after having had brownies, instead of the old Burg standby of coffeecake. They were good, but nearly stale.

Our second visit, being on the other edge of town, took the rest of the afternoon. It took us almost an hour to get there, another hour to get back, and we spent a thoroughly unproductive hour there. Father Thumbelli (no relation to Anthony Thumbs) of St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church of Jacksonville, was priest to the entire Romano family, and some of the Ginelli family. (The rest of the Ginellis went to St. Paul's, but Amy didn't know that priest.) Father Thumbelli told us that as much as he would like to be able to help us, he couldn't, because outside of Confession he hadn't heard anything, and inside Confession of course he couldn't talk to us about.

On the way home, Amy said she doubted that anybody would have had time to confess to such a thing, if they were going to. Anyway, she said that whoever did kidnap Rosie, Romano or Ginelli, didn't necessarily go to St. Peter's. She said she would make a formal call on St. Paul's priest the next day, alone.

We got back to her house at about the same time as Ranger, and Chris was already there. Ranger said that he had some of his old friends looking around for anything they could find, but they didn't know anything yet. Chris's report was essentially the same. He did mention that someone had seen Terry's dad at the supermarket while Amy and I were visiting Janet and her mother. The only reasons that it was memorable were because he didn't usually do the grocery shopping, and he was buying unusually healthy stuff. None of us could figure out what that meant. Amy and I told our story, and then we sat there and digested things for a bit.

Finally, Amy asked Chris to get the stuff that had been delivered that morning and bring it over to the windowseat. We followed her over to it. She faced Ranger and I and said, "This is why the blinds are down. No one, especially not Rosie, knows about this, and it's going to stay that way."

She unlocked the windowseat like a trunk. It was filled with weaponry.

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I know nothing about gun laws, so I made some stuff up. Suspend you disbelief.

The windowseat was big enough for three children or two overweight adults to sit on at once, and so there was a lot of room in it. Inside was a wide array of pepper spray, even more than Sunny from the gun shop had had where I had gotten mine. There were also several stun guns, tasers, and a small collection of handguns and silencers, but no ammunition. A small box marked "Registration Papers" sat to one side. What really caught my attention, though, were the knives.

There were two of them; each sheathed, sitting side by side. One was a bit smaller than the other one was. They looked like daggers might look like, but thinner. Were these like Brigg's ceremonial knife, or what?

"I have a little ammunition in a safe in the top shelf of my wardrobe, where Rosie can't get to it, but I'll leave it there, since we just received more." She gestured to Chris, who opened the box. Inside were several boxes of handgun ammunition. Underneath were four vests. Chris pulled then out and handed one to each of us. They looked like Kevlar, but were thinner and a bit more flexible. "The vests are a recent development. They work like Kevlar, but they are lighter and not as obvious when hidden under clothing."

She bent down and picked the knives out of the windowseat, along with a small bag I hadn't noticed before. "Chris, you and Ric recognize these of course, but Stephanie doesn't. These are my throwing knives. The smaller one I keep in an ankle holster and the larger one fits into my shoulder holster in a special sheath I had added. I prefer then to guns because they're quieter, and in a tight spot, I'm faster with them than a gun. This bag is where I keep the cleaning and maintenance supplies for them." She got out the holsters, and put them on. Then she took out a few of the handguns and handed one to Chris, with a holster, before speaking again. "Ric, did you come prepared?"

"No, we flew commercial and I didn't have time to clear it with my buddy from Security."

Amy nodded and handed him a handgun and some ammunition. He loaded it and put it in his holster. Then she turned to me.

"Stephanie?"

I had had a feeling this was going to happen. I took a deep breath, sighed and spoke.

"I'm not totally comfortable with my own gun, let alone a new one. I'd rather not carry one."

Amy nodded, and put one of the guns back into the windowseat. Then she handed me a stun gun and a small can of Sure-Guard that would fit on my belt loop. She handed Ranger and Chris one of each also, but only took a stun gun for herself.

Her T-shirt wasn't tucked in and covered the top of her jeans. She reached around behind herself for a moment, then brought her hands forward. She had been wearing a can of Sure-Guard in her back belt loop! She reattached it to a front loop, and closed and locked the windowseat carefully.

We went back to the living room area, and sat down. Chris and Amy loaded their guns and strapped on their holsters. Then Amy talked to us while she cleaned and sharpened her knives. Her eyes had a vicious glint in them with every stroke of the whetting stone.

"Stephanie, I saw something on our visit to Terry's house that I didn't mention at the time, because I didn't know how you'd react. I needed you calm for the visit to Father Thumbelli. As Janet showed us out the door, her mother went into the kitchen with the brownie plate. I happened to discreetly glance into the kitchen on our way out, and she was quietly muttering into the telephone, and she seemed, well, furtive. Since they are heavily linked to the Romanos, I didn't like the look of that all. Since all I had with me was one can of pepper-spray that you didn't know about, I wasn't ready to confront them about it. I never want to be in that kind of position again while we're getting Rosie back, so from now on, we're armed every time we're outside and we have our gun or pepper-spray within arm's reach inside. Get it?" She looked at each of us in turn, staring us down as we consented. Then she continued.

"Also, every time we leave the house to do something, anything, connected with this case, we wear our vests. But under clothing so, it can't be seen. That goes for weapons, too. Chris and I both have carrying concealed permits, and you don't need one for pepper-spray, Stephanie. You just got one, right, Ric?"

"New Jersey only." He was back to being Stone-Face Manoso.

Amy bit her tongue for a second, and then looked at Chris. "You still have that buddy in Records, Chris?"

He nodded, and got up. He went to the telephone and dialed, paused while the other end rang, and spoke quietly for a few moments before hanging up. When he came back over to us, he said, "The Jacksonville PD won't bother you, Ric, but he can't promise anything about the State Troopers."

Ranger nodded in thanks, and Chris sat down again. We spent the next half-hour tossing ideas back and forth, about why Terry's mom would be making a secret telephone call; some connected to the Romanos, some not. Near the end of the conversation, our ideas started getting a little silly.

"She was probably calling her bookie." That was Ranger.

"Or her boyfriend, her husband wasn't home." Chris was grinning again.

"Maybe she was planning a surprise party for Terry. Think we'll be invited?" Amy had that glint in her eyes again.

My stomach rumbled loudly just then, so I spoke up before Ranger could make a comment. "Maybe she was, Amy, she was probably calling the caterers."

Everybody laughed, despite the tension. Ranger winked at me and my stomach went all squishy. Chris and I were elected to go get dinner from the best pizza parlor in town, which oddly didn't deliver. Amy said that they were so good that they didn't have to. That didn't make much sense to me, because Pino's delivered, but I decided not to question that just yet. While we were gone, Amy and Ranger would be doing their daily five miles, her on her bicycle and him running.

Chris and I went out to his pickup truck, and off we went. We sat in silence for a couple blocks, until I got bored. Besides, I wanted to ask him about Amy. Isn't it best to know everything about your boyfriend's ex?

"So Chris, why don't you run five miles a day?" Yes, it was a weird conversation starter, but it was all I could think of right then.

He grinned, crookedly. "Because I run ten miles every other day at my gym. I like running on treadmills better than outdoors because I can close my eyes and concentrate on my Walkman. You?"

I made a face, since I was feeling mature. "I hate running. Usually I have to be dragged kicking and screaming out of bed early in the morning to run."

"Who does the dragging?"

I looked at him in disbelief. "I'll give you three guesses," I said dryly.

Chris glanced at me. "He isn't Cuban, by any chance, is he?" We grinned at each other.

We sat in silence for a few moments, and when Chris finally spoke, I knew we had been thinking of the same thing. "So, I hear Amy surprised you."

I rolled my eyes, this wasn't exactly the conversation I wanted to have but I'd go along with it until it went where I wanted. "How did you guess?"

"Oh, I don't know, I'm just bright like that." He grinned again. "I suppose you were expecting a considerably shorter Cuban girl who was a lamb, or a vixen, or a potential matriarch."

"Yeah, I don't know why, I mean I'm obviously no lamb, I'm certainly not a matriarch, and, well, you'd get several different answers if you asked people if I'm a vixen." I grimaced to myself, thinking about Joe's mother. "But Amy…."

"She isn't Cuban, but she can be a lamb when she wants. Vixen depends on whom you ask. As for being a matriarch, she has the genes for it, but she doesn't want to be one. We've talked about it, and she says that after watching her female relatives take their turns, she doesn't want her turn. She says it wouldn't be fun anymore after the novelty wore off, and she has plenty of responsibilities as it is."

Something was bugging me, and it took me a moment to figure it out. "She took control easily enough this morning."

Chris's head snapped around towards me so fast that he nearly jerked us off the road. Then he started laughing like a maniac. When he could talk again, he was breathing hard. "Amy didn't take control. Ric's the one with the most experience in this area; he's in control. That is just understood. Amy knows Jacksonville better than him, and she's Rosie's mother, so she informed us of what she knew. She does best as a top advisor, and she knows it. She controlled the conversation, but that's it."

"But you gave assignments this afternoon."

"I was confirming what had to be done. Ric and I had some people to talk to privately, and so you and Amy took the courtesy information visits."

"So there was a planning session I wasn't invited to?" I was angry now. This wasn't fair.

Chris thought for a moment. "Not really, but I do see your point. Let's talk to Ric and Amy when we get back."

We were in the parking lot now. We went into the pizza place and got a large pepperoni with extra cheese and a salad for Ranger. Chris and I had ordered the salad at the same instant, we laughed and the counter guy was confused.

We got back into the truck. Trying to move onto an easier subject than the one a moment ago, I asked why this pizza place didn't deliver.

"Check the inside of the box lid."

"Why?" Huh? What did that have to do with anything?

"They put messages inside sometimes, that's why they can't deliver."

Chapter 7

I opened the pizza box. There was a note taped to the inside of the lid! It read:

Chris-

Running outside is more fun, but inside is healthier. Don't snore so loud. And wear those new light vests everywhere, even to the gym every other day.

It wasn't signed.

I thought back over the conversations of the day. This was not good, not good at all. I made a silent shushing motion to Chris, and let him read the note. The more he read, the tenser he got.

We chatted idly, but carefully on the way back. We had a somewhat lively debate about wrestling, but the note had us nervous. Keeping it out of our voices was tough, but we tried.

We finally got back to Amy's place, and Chris pointedly suggested that we eat on the back patio. We went through a door I hadn't noticed before, hidden by a colorful hanging. We passed the refrigerator and went through the garage to a small patio. Ranger and Amy each sat with their back to a wall, and again I wondered who had taught whom.

Ranger finished his salad and Amy, Chris and I had eaten most f the pizza and still Chris hadn't brought up the note. I was about to start, but Chris started complimenting Amy on her daffodils, planted in the furthest corner of the yard. Eventually he got so enthusiastic that we all went over to have a look. Chris brought up our conversation about running on the way.

Once there, he passed the note to Amy, who read it, went white, and gave it to Ranger. When he was done reading, he spoke, softly. "So Amy's house, your place, Chris, and your truck are all bugged. I'd bet Amy's car is bugged, and the rental SUV, though we have no proof. It's a safe bet that the patio's bugged, too, obviously. Is there any way this corner could be?

Chris and I both became alarmed at that, but Amy answered quickly. "No, Ric. I work over here at least three times a week. I'd find it too fast."

Ranger nodded, and I judged this a good time to pop in. "When could they have done all this?"

"Judging by the hints they used, probably this afternoon for this house, maybe this morning for the cars. They could have done Chris's place last night, when he was over here helping me plan. Then they would have heard him snore this morning, while we napped."

What Amy had said made sense, but something else was bugging me. "How could the pizza guy have known any of this?"

It was Chris's turn to explain this time. "The messages they usually pass are Mafia related. The guy who owns the place married a Ginelli. It doesn't matter if the Ginellis or the Romanos did this; they're on the same side about this. They might even try to find Rosie, if they didn't agree on the kidnapping." Amy's face went blank, like Ranger's did when he didn't want people to know what he was thinking.

Ranger spoke next. "Why would this man warn you, Chris?"

Chris thought a moment. "When I designed the renovations for the pizza place last year, I gave him some extra time to pay me, than I normally would. He was in a tight spot. I guess he thought he owed me. But he's done more for me, now, than what I did for him."

"Don't try to pay him back," Amy, Ranger and I chorused, and we grinned at each other.

Chris grinned back. "I won't."

It was good to know that these people knew at least on of the three things to remember when dealing with a Crime Family: take them seriously, remember that they have ears everywhere, and never allow yourself to become indebted to any Mafioso, or imply that you are. For Chris to try to pay the pizza parlor guy back would imply that he owed him something. The Mafia, after all, has no problem letting you pay a debt back to them, to their specification, of course.

"So the Ginellis are listening to us. I wonder what they expect to hear." The other three shrugged. After a few more minutes, we all went back inside and helped clean up dinner. Afterwards, Ranger snuck up behind me and suggested a sunset stroll around the neighborhood. Since I'm not the kind of idiot to decline such an offer, I grabbed the vests and a flannel shirt to wear over mine, since it was cooler out now. Ranger mentioned where we would be to Amy and Chris, and got his jacket. We armored up, and off we went.

We wandered around for almost an hour. Ranger told me about his family, his dad the mad inventor, his mom the army daughter, and his brother. His brother had a disconcerting habit of stalking former girlfriends, until he finally got married. The truly odd thing was that he married the twin sister of a girl he had been following, because one day he accidentally followed the twin instead, and discovered he liked her better than he liked her sister. When Ranger ran out of stories, I told him some he hadn't heard about Grandma Mazur that he hadn't heard before, though most of them were legends in the Burg.

About half an hour into the walk our hands met in the middle of a stride and we didn't let go until we walked in Amy's front door again.

Fifteen years from now, I certainly won't remember every word we spoke that night, but I'll remember one moment forever, because it showed me a side of Ranger I'd never seen before.

He was telling me the story of his brother, and he took out his wallet to show me a picture of him and his wife, the twin. Ranger's brother, Max, who had moved back to Denver the year before, was a bit older than Ranger, not in quite as good shape as Ranger, and his face was somehow softer. His wife looked like a Cuban Terri Gilman, which threw me. But that wasn't why the moment was memorable.

The picture across from Max and his wife was, obviously, Rosie. She had her mother's hair and her father's grin, and her skin was a few shades lighter than Ranger's was. Her eyes looked like Rangers, but she wore glasses.

But Ranger's face drew my attention. His eyes looked slightly misted over, and his face was totally relaxed. I'd only seen a look like that once before, on my mother's face.

When I was very, very young, Valerie during her only, and very short, rebellious phase had run away. No one knew where she was for about eight or ten hours. My mother's face looked like what Ranger's did now when we heard a car pull up at the end of the day. My mother told later that she had thought it was a police car. It turned out to be Grandma Mazur, with Valerie in tow. I wouldn't imagine what the face meant, I figured it was a parent thing, as Ranger was proving to me now. Only a parent could have that mix of sorrow, resignation and determination.

When we got back to Amy's, she and Chris were watching Casablanca. I sat down in one of the chairs, but Ranger wanted a water, so he asked us if we wanted anything on his way to the refrigerator. Amy and I said no, but Chris asked for a pop. Ranger was intently watching the movie on his way back, so instead of handing the pop to Chris, he absent-mindedly shoved it towards his face as he sat down. There was a bit of unintentional force in the move, Ranger was laughing at the time.

Chris jumped almost a foot and threw his hand up to shield his face. The other three of us froze.

Chris slowly brought his hand down, and relaxed, melting into the couch. Amy put her hand on his shoulder. I looked at Ranger, confused. He swore softly, and apologized to Chris, who assured him it was perfectly all right.

Then Ranger caught my eye. All the air went out of his body, and he sat down, hard, into the other chair.

Amy looked confused, then comprehension dawned in her eyes. "You haven't told her." It wasn't a question.

Ranger looked at her, at Chris, and then stared at his bottle of water. "Not yet."

Three seconds of dead silence, then Amy spoke again. "Would you like me to?"

Ranger looked up, nodded once, and then looked at me. He looked into me. He was searching my soul again. He took my hand, squeezed it, then stood and went into the room he was using while we stayed with Amy. Chris said something about dessert, and wandered off to the kitchen.

Amy spoke after thinking a few seconds. "Did Ric ever tell you that there was an incident that finally forced us to get a divorce?"

"He mentioned that there was one, but he didn't elaborate."

Amy nodded, and thought some more. "I'll be blunt, because I don't know any other way to tell this story. One night, after Rosie had been put to bed, Chris, who was visiting, and I were watching a movie. Ric came home, drunker than he had ever been, and accused him of sleeping with me behind his back. He threw a punch, and the fight went on until he knocked Chris out. Then Ric left in a huff. I threw his stuff on the lawn that night, and got the locks changed the next morning."

I sat there for a couple seconds, and then went looking for Ranger.

Chapter 8

Or that is I would have, if Amy hadn't grabbed my arm and pulled me back down again. "That isn't the whole story, Stephanie."

I stared at her for several seconds. What could she possibly add to that story? When it finally occurred to me to ask, she looked away from me for a few moments. She glanced towards the kitchen, and when I followed her eyes I saw Chris leaving through the door to the patio.

Once he was gone, Amy spoke. "About twelve years ago, I made the decision to never drink alcohol again. It wasn't because I was an alcoholic, but because of a particular incident. Chris made the same decision, at the same time, for the same reason."

I had an idea of where this might be leading, but I just let her talk. If I spoke, she might stop, and never start this story again.

She wasn't looking at me again. "Ric's accusation of Chris and I sleeping together wasn't out of the clear blue sky. Chris and I had been friends for several years, and Ric and I had been dating for about a month, when Ric had to be out of town for a weekend and Chris came over to watch movies. We each had a few too many beers, and the movie was a romance, and we ended up in bed together."

She swallowed hard, and looked down for a moment. "We avoided each other for about three weeks after that. I told Ric about it when he got back. It took awhile, but he forgave us, and agreed to act like it had never happened, like Chris and I had agreed to."

All of a sudden she stared me straight in the eye. "All that changed when I found out I was pregnant."

That, I hadn't expected. I was struck speechless for perhaps the third time in my life.

"Ric stepped out of the picture. He took a three month mission with the Army, and off he went. Chris proposed the moment after he got over the initial shock. But I could tell it was just out of obligation. I asked him to wait a few months. My mother had miscarried three times in the first trimester before she was able to have me, and I wanted to make sure we would have a reason to get married."

Amy's hand moved to her abdomen. She didn't seem to notice. "About three months later, I was just starting to show. Chris proposed again. I accepted. We decided to meet the next day for lunch to pick out rings."

She paused a few moments. "I lost the baby about ten o'clock the that morning. Chris came looking for me when I didn't show for lunch. I met him at the door. I said 'We don't have to get married anymore.' I don't remember the next several hours. I guess I've repressed them. After I had pulled myself together, and Chris had calmed down, he left for a moment, he said he needed to arrange something. Turns out he called Ric, who showed up an hour later. Chris left then."

Amy took a couple deep breaths, and relaxed a bit. "It took awhile, but Ric and I patched things up. We agreed to be friends, and not take it any farther than that. Too much history, and all." She laughed to herself.

"That lasted maybe a week and a half. Then we were dating again. Nine months later he proposed, six months later we got married, and ten months later Rosie was born. I threw Carlos out a month and a half later. You know the rest."

I was confused again. "Carlos?"

Amy jumped a few inches. "What?"

"You called Ranger 'Carlos'."

Amy thought a moment. "I haven't done that in ten years." She glanced at me. "He asked me to call him that after he proposed. The only other person who called him that was his little sister. She died young in a car accident. Her name was Rosemary, but the family called her Rosie."

"Is that all?" I asked quietly.

She nodded. I went looking for Ranger.

He was looking at a picture on Rosie's dresser, of the two of them. He put it down when I entered, but he didn't turn around. I spoke first.

"She told me about the incident, and the history behind it."

He set his jaw, and nodded once. He still didn't face me.

"Have you ever been that drunk since then?"

Now her turned around. "No. I haven't had a drop of alcohol since."

"And your not going to."

He nodded. "Ever again."

This time my eyes were searching his soul. I found exactly what I expected.

"Then I trust you."

All the air went out of his body, and he crossed the room in three strides. I was exactly where I wanted to be, because I felt safest when I was in his arms.

We both thought it would be tacky to sleep together for the first time, or at all, in his ex-wife's house, especially with his daughter missing. Which is why we woke up in separate beds the next morning.

Amy, Ranger and I were having breakfast when Chris stopped by. He had some people to see, but he wanted to tell us where he would be during the day.

Ranger was going to spend the day hunting down Terry Churchward. If we knew what he was up to, we might be able to figure out if he knew where Rosie was. Since I had worked with Ranger the most out of the three of us, I'd be going with him. Amy was going to pay a visit to St. Paul's priest, and then talk to some members of her congregation on the police force.

So we were all out on the front lawn, about to scatter to our cars, when the black Lincoln Towncar pulled up. An Italian man who looked about 45 years old got out of the back seat, and then bent back in to help someone else out.

And Rosie Manoso jumped out of the car, and ran to her parents.

After the initial moment of shock passed, Amy and Ranger rushed to her. Their reunion lasted several minutes, but the Italian man was quickly bored, and silently walked back to the Towncar. Just before he got in, he looked at us, and said, "All is as it should be, here." A moment later he was gone. The reunion ended shortly after.

Rosie was eager to see her room again, so Amy and Chris took her inside. Ranger walked up to me, and smiled. The tension of the last 30 hours was gone from his face.

"Stephanie, thank you for being here for me. It's incredible to me that you would have done this, and-"

And I wasn't having any of it. I pecked him on the lips (and you don't even want me going into the amount of self-restraint that took), and looked him in the eyes.

"I did precisely what I wanted, Ranger. I wanted to help you. Let's go inside."

He put his arm around my shoulders as we walked back in the house, and my arm snaked around his waist. Ranger was the first guy I'd come across that I could walk with like that comfortably, and I was discovering that I liked it.

We separated to our rooms to pack. Chris was watching TV in the living room, checking the news. Amy had Rosie in her room, checking her for any injuries we couldn't see. Ranger had wanted to do that, but Rosie's sense of modesty wouldn't allow it.

My blinds were shut, though I had thought I left them open. I thought little of it, because I wanted to finish packing. Ranger and I were moving to a hotel for a few days. He wanted to be around a little while so he could know that Rosie was really okay, and we both wanted to stay together.

I was about halfway done with my packing, but before I packed my bathroom stuff I waned to ask Ranger what hotel we'd be staying at. I wanted to know if I'd need my shampoo or not.

Once I was in his room, we heard a slight commotion in the hallway. Ranger opened the door.

Terry Churchward was standing in the middle of the hallway. He was facing the living room, gun in hand. His face was totally emotionless, sociopath-ic.

Chris was standing now, and moving towards Terry. I could see that Amy's door was open a crack.

Ranger pulled his gun.

Then Chris pulled his.

A knife flew threw the air.

I heard three shots.

A scream. Silence.

Chapter 9, or The Epilogue

"We gather here today to celebrate the life of a man who, somehow, touched our lives. He was not wealthy, he was not famous, and he wasn't even particularly popular. But he did what was right, when it needed to be done. He was a son, boss, and employee, but most of all, he was a friend. And that is how he will be remembered."

So the eulogy began. Amy was an excellent speaker, and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Amy's knife had saved Ranger's life. If not for her, Terry might have gotten off a second shot. It landed in the meaty part of the back of Terry's right shoulder. Then Chris had fired, and his bullet shattered Terry's left kneecap.

Terry had originally been aiming for Chris's head, but the knife and the bullet had made his arms drop. His bullet landed dead center in Chris's heart. The doctors said that he was dead before he hit the floor.

And then Ranger had blown Terry's brains out.

Luckily, Amy had sent Rosie into the bathroom when she heard the noise in the hallway. The scream was Amy's, when she saw Chris lying on the floor.

Late that night, when the shock was wearing off and the grief was setting in, Ranger told Amy what Chris had talked to him about the day before.

"Amy, Chris and I had a conversation yesterday that you should know about. He asked me for my blessing to ask you to marry him."

Amy gasped, and swallowed hard. Ranger took a box out of his pocket.

"He would want you to have this."

The ring had a medium sized diamond in the middle, and there was a small sapphire to either side. It was gorgeous.

Amy's wearing it on a chain around her neck now. She said wearing it wouldn't feel right.

Amy's selling her house. She says the memories are too much. She and Rosie are going to move to Hamilton Township. Amy says she has a friend there who needs an assistant pastor for the next couple years until he retires, and then she'll inherit the church.

And Ranger and I? He's still a little shell shocked by it all, but he smiled when he woke up this morning. That might have something to do with our having made a more than respectable dent in the box of condoms last night.

THE END

Author's Note: Thank you all for being so patient! I plan to continue this story line with a series of very very short sequel stories, but I'm not promising that any are even starting to be planned in my head yet, or will be any time soon. Wow this writing stuff is hard! Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!


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